I agree that it is important to have some money saved in case of emergencies (job loss, medical expenses, etc.) But you should only need about eight months salary for those emergencies, as recommended by Suze Orman. There is no reason why you wouldn’t want to invest early, especially if you have some disposable income. As for setting a goal: establishing a goal for your investments comes after some research through utilizing free resources online. I’d recommend the student test investment strategies and theories within a virtual environment, until he gains the knowledge and confidence to invest real money.

For example, using an investment growth calculator I can quickly see that if I start with $1,000, and am willing to invest $100 per month, I can build an investment portfolio of nearly $150,000 in 25 years. (This example assumes an annual return of 10.2%, the annual return of the S&P 500 Index since 1926.)